I had an idea for adding SATA to the Mac mini. You would use the 2.5" to 3.5" adapter by that dude in Australia and then use one of the hardware PATA to SATA adapters that are now available. Then you install a SATA plug into the back of the mini and use a SATA drive in an external case. Right now I am using a Raid-0 external case with 2 Maxtor 250 gig drives to boot and run the mini but I want even more speed I also saw a hardware device that lets you RAID 5 SATA drives to one SATA connection. Imagine the Mini with a 1TB SATA external drive array hooked to it I do editing with Final Cut HD so I need the speed & space...

Why would you want RAID 5 if you're going for speed? RAID 5 provides redundancy which hurts performace. What you'd want is hardware RAID 0 with more drives. Also, why do you want all this to be SATA? Are you thinking about 10k or 15k rpm drives? The extra bandwidth SATA offers is lost through all of this conversion, and it isn't fully used now anyways.

I never said any particular raid setup. I said you could use 5 drives with the raid block. I would use raid-0 for speed. Dont you think it would still be faster then a FW400 RAID?

Paul Cotto

Susurrus wrote:

Why would you want RAID 5 if you're going for speed? RAID 5 provides redundancy which hurts performace. What you'd want is hardware RAID 0 with more drives. Also, why do you want all this to be SATA? Are you thinking about 10k or 15k rpm drives? The extra bandwidth SATA offers is lost through all of this conversion, and it isn't fully used now anyways.

Frankly, you could do a TB external RAID drive now with two 500Gb drives in RAID 0, similar to your setup.

I say give it a shot and report your results. I would use a single drive first then build up to the raid array and test that. With the smaller SATA cables it would look a lot better than the IDE hacks out there.

The SATA would run at IDE performance but the over all hook up would look cleaner in my opinion._________________1.42Ghz
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I also saw a hardware device that lets you RAID 5 SATA drives to one SATA connection.

This is what I was referring to when I was arguing against a RAID 5 setup.

As for the SATA arrangement, I see no reason why it couldn't be done. I would recommend using SATA2.0, though, as the connectors has clips on the end and are designed for external use. You could also just route the SATA cable though the modem port (it's removable) or you could add your plug there.

Yes, I should have put a comma between "RAID, 5 SATA drives" to remove confusion. Good idea on the Modem port, I will consider it. I have an older SCSI 6-bay tower in the closet that will be pressed into service when I get ready. I am still waitiing for the 2.5" adapter from Ausrailia.

Regards,
Paul Cotto

Susurrus wrote:

paulcotto wrote:

I also saw a hardware device that lets you RAID 5 SATA drives to one SATA connection.

This is what I was referring to when I was arguing against a RAID 5 setup.

As for the SATA arrangement, I see no reason why it couldn't be done. I would recommend using SATA2.0, though, as the connectors has clips on the end and are designed for external use. You could also just route the SATA cable though the modem port (it's removable) or you could add your plug there.

It's definitely an option, though you'd need a case. You could probably find a Cube case to through the array in.

Yes, I should have put a comma between "RAID, 5 SATA drives" to remove confusion. Good idea on the Modem port, I will consider it. I have an older SCSI 6-bay tower in the closet that will be pressed into service when I get ready. I am still waitiing for the 2.5" adapter from Ausrailia.

I received the 2.5" to 3.5" drive adapter from Australia today. I also ordered the rest of the parts and they are due in Friday. I will try the SATA adapter by itself on a single SATA drive. If that works I will get 3 more and raid zero them. I should know if it works by next week.

Hmm.. 16ft, that should be like 5,4864 meters and that means I could have a drive enclosure stored in the next room holding 2 or 3 harddrives and a nice Dual Layer DVD burner. I sure hope it's possible to leave the combo inside the mini with the 2,5" to 3,5" IDE converter.